Asking Annabelle to babysit Devon has probably been one of the best ideas I've gotten in the past six months. As you've noticed, ideas do not harm me as much as my poor judgement at making the right decision. Just take a look at Devon and you'll know everything!

Let's put all that aside to truly determine whether I did something reckless again or not. When I called Carly and arranged a meeting, I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I didn't really expect anything, I just wanted to get someone for Devon and end this madness. But when I saw the young and steady Carly, of course, my thoughts got dirty - she was hot like hell. Since things have gone south with her for more than one reason, I had to make a mental note to never ever screw with your co-worker or employee.

There goes my dream of fucking the secretary.

Alright, let's be honest. The moment Jed and Lenart introduced me to Justine, that dream has vanished. God, just imagining undressing her is a torture, especially because she'd probably wear that scowl of hers and tell me I'm an idiot. So, no, sex with the secretary is not a dream, it has become a fucking nightmare.

Back to (not) screwing employees! I think that's why Annabelle is a perfect fit. Hell, I'd do her to the moon and back. She's hot, intelligent and she strikes me as a screamer. Alas, Annabelle and I have drawn battle lines a while back. She wants something I don't and I want to do things, she isn't into. She and I are on pretty good terms with what we will and won't do, which is why she's perfect for this. And Devon adores her, so here's that too.

It's early in the morning when these thoughts flood my mind. Too early. Annabelle and I had a deal to meet at my place at 8.30 and here I am, awake and nervous before the clock even stroke number 8. I'm more nervous than I was when meeting Carly, but for that, I have a reason and am also fully aware of it.

Carly was a random young woman I met for one purpose specifically. Though, we discovered whole others too. She was eager to have sex with me. Hah! For all I know, she came to me exactly because she wanted a good fuck.

Then we have Annabelle, freaking gorgeous ginger I nearly claimed as a man. She's not into having sex to have fun, she's looking for me and the kid, which is why I'm aware she will take no bullshit from me. Exactly that is what makes her an excellent candidate too. She'll be here for Devon, not for my python. Though, I'm not sure how much I truly appreciate that.

All in all, in many ways, Annabelle seems like the right choice.

I'm drinking my second cup of coffee, because I need something to do, while I wait. The sound coming from my intercome surprises me. I get to the panel and see on a tiny LED screen Annabelle's face - as an engineer, I think it's important I live in a modernised building, don't you think? I let her in and try to keep in mind to introduce her or talk to our security guard about her when I'll be on my way to work.

I give her a couple of minutes to come up, and when she does, she gently knocks, instead of using the doorbell.

No! Let her wait or you'll look desperate!

It's completely irrational, I know! If I opened the entrance door for her right away, it'd be completely logical that I waited for her here, but nooo, the Nathan Stallion Price forbids me from doing so.

Half a minute passes and I can't take the pressure anymore, so I open the door. Before me stands Annabelle with her hair up in a wavy ponytail and dressed in regular jeans and a white T-Shirt with an imprint of Betty Boop.

That's insanely cute.

"Morning," She says and smiles, but I notice how the fingers knot before her.

I return her the smile and let her in as I invite her to enter "Morning. Please, come in."

Annabelle looks like she's lost in a forbidden, dark and cursed forest when she takes miniature steps and never stops looking at surroundings "This is your place? It's pretty big."

Wanna guess what else is big?

If I know anything about women, then that remark meant she wonders how I pay for it or something similar. I apologise to every feminist out there, but you women do check these stuff out, don't even try to deny it. Besides, it's only natural. You want to know your guy can actually live decently.

"Yeah, after I first got it, I had a myalgia for two weeks straight." I tell her about my experience that is exaggerated to the point where it should've already exploded, but I do make her laugh with it.

She quickly calms down and looks at me once she's scanned my apartment over "You weren't used to hiking to the bathroom in the middle of the night?"

I snort and recall back how my thighs screamed whenever I had to go to one of the rooms. Maybe I did have a bit of muscular ache... It is possible I was just overwhelming myself with pretty women, but I doubt it. There's no such thing as too much butts and boobs.

"Thank God, I rarely wake up in the middle of the night, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here." I want to take this joke to a next level. It was her who started it and what better way to really relax than to joke together?

Her lifted brow is enough for me to know what she's trying to say or to ask.

I shrug and reply with a small smile "The struggle would force me to get myself another apartment. But I survived!"

Fuck, why didn't I go with a death joke?!

Annabelle gives me an applause and I bow triumphantly "You're a real Bear Grylls! Invite him over and challenge him to survive in your apartment."

I eye her warily and express my concern by shaking my head. This is my chance again! "Are you nuts?! I'd be arrested for murder once they'd discover his body after two weeks of searching for him!"

Annabelle covers her mouth to preserve herself from laughing too loudly. When she shuts her eyes tightly from the amusement, she looks like a young giggly teen.

Yes!!! Death joke - executed! ... pun intended

I give my joke a chuckle too and when she's having a laugh cooldown I suggest I show her around the apartment "How about we take a look around?"

"Sure," she agrees, her face still resembling a tomato. But imagine what her arousal blush must look like! Hot damn!

I lead her to the closest thing to us, which is the kitchen. It spreads right there in the open, revealed and exposed "Okay, I know it's hard to believe it, but this is the kitchen."

"No, what?!" She strikes me back with sarcasm that brings a smile on my face.

"I know, I know, but I'm telling the truth." From that sarcastic addition I switch to a more serious chatter "Anyway, the fridge is more or less always stocked, though, if you'll ever need to buy something, tell me about it and I'll pay you back for it."

I believe she scowls my way and I brace myself to hear a remark of a true feminist. With that, I prepare myself to answer with the same annoyance.

She opens her mouth and here it comes "I'll just leave you a note, then at the end of the day."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a strong and independent woman!" I raise my voice and it's later when I realise she wasn't... acting like a feminist at all.

Welp, there goes another babysitter.

She lifts her hand as if she were a policeman showing the car in front of her to stop and says "I'll... pretend I didn't hear that and you pretend like you didn't say it."

"Do you want me to show you what's in each cupboard or-?" I have to say something to cover up for my screw up.

Annabelle shakes her head "No, I'll find what I'll need, no prob."

"Okay, moving on!" I say that way too enthusiastically for both my and her liking. To cover up this second screw up of mine, I try to speak calmer and more collected now "This is the living room, as you've probably noticed." With my hand I show her where Mr Ritchie's favourite couch, a dark wooden coffee table, soft carpet and a big TV screen are. "Just for the record, I think it's stupid a kid is constantly in just one room. Feel free to bring him here, move the coffee table around to give him space, I don't care."

She nods my way, though her senses are all focused on what she sees before her. I just hope she won't mention Christian Grey. If she will, I'll throw her out. My place doesn't even look like his!

Her gaze is lifted when she's done looking around the living room and its furniture.

I smile her way "You approve?"

She surprises me with a giggle. It's very likely she hasn't expected a question like that. Men don't usually ask that kind of stuff because they either like their place or they just don't care. I am merely asking because I like to hear how cool it looks!

"It looks really cool." She nods excitedly and stabs her gaze at one of the rooms that are hiding behind dark wooden door. She picks a random winner and asks me about it "What's in here?"

I follow the direction of her sight and point at it "Here?" I open the door to show her the bathroom, a room that has once before witnessed a double curse - Devon's shit and my mother. I don't know which one is worse.

I let Annabelle step forward first and I follow her in. Not even for a second do I stop following her eyes. I'm curious to find out what she likes and doesn't like. So far, she's adoring it all.

"Oh, I see you have the changing table here." She says like a by-the-way thing.

As she points out a thing like that, it gives me a cue to show her where I keep other things essential for baby's ass. I open a cupboard next to the sink and show her "I keep everything here, from diapers to baby powder. When he'll have a crisis, you'll find everything needed in here."

She registers it with a smile, which I find weird as fuck. Waaay too much excitement over shit.

Together we move to the next room "Nothing special in here. When I first got the place, I didn't know what to do with it, so I turned it in a guest room. I rarely have guests, but it got handy whenever... whenever Aidan came." Towards the end of the sentence, my voice dies down, until the words are barely understandable.

Before my eyes, I see each one of Aidan's visits, every single thing that we did, every time I had to chase him around the living room or make him a Happy Cocoa™ after he has had a bad dream. I have been so busy with Devon and trying to figure everything out, I never had the time to really see how much I miss my nephew. His presence and childish spirit were so fulfilling, I never needed anyone else. In a way, I did see him as my son and not because Patty would spread her legs for me.

My head feels like a giant swollen bruise when I recall Patty's fucking madness and what a bitch she became in every sense. Then Annabelle tugs on the fabric of my shirt on my arm really gently and with a voice as soft as if I were a child that just woke up, asks me a question "Are you... okay?"

My thoughts focus back to the present, to reality. A bit disoriented I nod and smile apologetically "Yeah, just... I remembered something. Nothing you should worry about, though."

I see it in her eyes she doesn't believe a word I have just told her and there is nothing else that could distract her from her curiosity "Who is Aidan, then? A friend?"

"My nephew." I tell her and suddenly I start tending a short tale "My younger brother's son. I used to watch over him plenty of times, but then I got into a fight with my brother's fiancee and she is really good at holding a grudge."

The lips I've tasted once before form a smile as Annabelle hears the summary of what happened "No offence, but that's really bitchy of her."

I chuckle as a simple statement like that brightens my mood "She's not exactly a flower in the field, yeah." I quickly usher us to move forward, with more than one reason up my sleeve "How about I show the other rooms too?"

Without asking me more about my nagging pregnant ex, Annabelle follows me to Devon's room. I carefully push down the door handle in case the kid is still sleeping.

I whisper to her "Keep quiet, this is Devon's room."

Her eyes light up when the kid's name is mentioned. It's true that's the kind of attitude I want from her as the babysitter, but I'd rather see her giving me that look when my pants dropped down. Oh well...

Both of us enter. My walk is the same as usual - hot, but I notice Annabelle tiptoes her way to the crib. I want to show her where the toys are along with clothes and everything else, but she's so busy gazing at Devon, I am forgotten and left behind.

I check the time and relax. We've been at it for only fifteen minutes. With that kind of pace, I'll even get the chance to offer her some coffee and casually drink it with her.

I wait for Annabelle to get tired of a sleeping baby and while I'm at it, I check out her outfit once again. She may be dressed in a T-Shirt and jeans, but that ass!

My lungs welcome a giant breath of fresh air that has a cooling effect on me.

"He's so sweet," She says and keeps him in the apple of her eye for a few more moments.

I smile her way politely; I'm in a rush to show her what's left of my place and we quickly move forward.

"In here is my bedroom," I say before I open the door only to see Annabelle scowling. 

At first, I have no idea what got into her, and I want to ask her if she doesn't have her bedroom at her place because she looks so pissed. 

Then she says it in a bitter tone that makes me a little worried if this is gonna work "So, you must change sheets in here quite often."

No girl before has called me out on this. Well, yes, there were a few girls, but never like this. I feel myself blushing or maybe it's just my body temperature rising due to arousal. Do not question me!

Keep it cool, Nate.

I don't bother with a smile. That would probably make everything worse. Just imagine me, leaning on the wall and whispering to her 'Yeah, wanna see how it's done?' 

No. Just no. Regular, casual way is how I am going to handle this. 

She refuses to step deeper in the room as if there was a contagious virus in here. 

"I don't. It rarely happens I bring a girl here." There is no explanation why do I try to reassure her.

 Surprise, surprise, Annabelle's scowl fades, but it doesn't look like she approves all of it. Oh well, it could be worse. 

"I have no idea what to show you in here. Maybe just this," as if I were sleepwalking and speaking to myself, I float to the closet "T-shirts, shirts, whatever you need. Now, Devon isn't a big throw-upper, but still-"

"You never know." Annabelle finishes my sentence and smiles genuinely. 

"Exactly," I respond and a smile I cannot hide stretches across my face as well. 

For the next minute or two, we don't waste any energy with words. I let her look around the place and she really looks intrigued by my wardrobe. I even notice her tracing her finger over the fabric of T-shirts that rest on the top.

I understand a lot how women work. I know what they want to see, what they like to do, what intrigues them, though the way Annabelle looks at my closet and drawers filled with clothing, I can see a sort of longing projected on her face. 

This brings me to the troubling part. I have only one sort of longing and that can be satisfied and cooled down with sex. Girls I've met over the years were more or less straightforward with what they were longing for. Maybe they didn't use words, but the way their hands touched me, I knew where we were standing - or lying, eheh!

It's the longing Annabelle shows that I do not understand. It's not sexual, I can say that much. It's something much more, but I don't think it's connected to me at all. 

Seeing her like this and me weirding out earlier shows there's probably something about my apartment that triggers feelings like that. 

I want to approach her, but it's hard to do that when I have no idea what's going on with her. 

Calmly, I murmur "Annabelle?"

She blinks a couple of times at my shirts she's been admiring with her thoughts being elsewhere "What?"

"Is everything alright?" I ask her, and by never taking my eyes off of her I push the drawer to close. 

We hear a gentle clomp of the drawer hiding its content behind the wooden frame. 

I inspect her face. It doesn't look like all of this is happening because of me. It's almost as if she's thinking about someone else and she's definitely on the verge of tears. Would it help if I let her cry it all out or should I distract her with the tour of my apartment?

She looks right into my eyes with certain determination filling the air between us and I know what this is. She's trying not to cry. 

"We both have some painful memories, huh?" She says weakly and ends it with a soft chuckle.

It does not fool me. I've seen it for so many, many, many times and I've done the same thing over and over again - stayed strong or tried to do so. 

"Want to share yours with me?" I feel like a hypocrite asking that. 

I've always hated when people asked me to tell them what bothered me. Like they were ever going to understand what it felt like to be a stuttering kid with his father far away and his mother unresponsive when it came to responsibilities. I doubt they'd contemplate to what extent my mother went. May still has stomach cramps from all the fucked up food she gave us. That is if she bothered to do so much. 

Annabelle's eyes are fixed on a random, invisible spot in my room and now refuses to look away "I don't know if I'd be that comfortable with it. I hope you can understand that."

Believe it or not, I am a guy with a lot of empathy. I am a guy and I have feelings, I just choose not to show many of them. However, as Annabelle politely declines my offer to listen to her, I relate to her for reasons we're all aware of. 

"I do understand it. I think every person does. We all have some things we don't want to share." I nod.

Saying that brings Annabelle to lifts her chin and peek at me. A moment later she's smiling with relief. "Thanks. People like my sis don't understand that. They think the sooner you speak about things, the better it is."

Like a true psycho would say.

"Uh, yeah," I cough to clear my throat. "That's not really the case. maybe it all depends on a person."

I expect her to say more on that topics, but she remains silent. We've probably said enough about it, but I'm not sure what she's thinking. Maybe she has created a scenario I should follow, only that I don't know what I should do.

"Is that all of your apartment, though?" She cuts the thread of my wondering, and in her voice, there's nothing that would indicate on her moment of weakness she had had only seconds ago.

It happens so sudden I gotta take some time to think and retrace our steps. I think about what she has already seen and what I still have to show her. "No, there's one room left, my office."

"Can I see it or is it a top secret?" Suddenly she gets all playful. The quick change in her mood is distracting for I keep wondering if that's an act or she really does feel better.

"If I tell you, I'll have to kill you." I go along with her joke, since it doesn't look like it can do any harm.

Her laugh fixes everything. The whole tension and uneasiness evaporate once I'm convinced she's doing alright.

I sport a smile on my face all the way to my office "So, I have my computer in here if you'll need to use it, paper, pens, staplers you got it all."

"Do you work in here a lot?"

It's definitely not something I anticipated to hear, but it's always nice to see someone is interested in you. 

"I used to. With the new position at the firm, it gives me more space, time and people." I reply like a robot, due to my thought wandering back to the days when I had my goals fixed on becoming the head engineer.

Annabelle lifts both brows in confusion "The new position? Were you and Austin promoted?"

Shit.

I haven't thought of that... If I tell her the truth, will Caitlin find out about it? And if she will, would she actually leave Austin?

It'd give me a valid reason to really hate her!

"Yeah." I sweat my way through the reply.

It's the truth that is better spoken without too many details. When I was promoted, so was Austin, so I'm not really lying about anything.

Fuck... What if Annabelle and Caitlin will now think Austin just got promoted and will throw him a fucking party?

Fucking fuck, how will you fix this one, Nate?

"But it's been a while." Wow. Just... Pitiful.

Annabelle nods, and the thing that terrifies me is that she listens to me very carefully, like a fisherman waiting for a fish in a pond.

My signature move when I gotta get out of the awkward situations is to look at my watch, and I'm probably not the only one who does this "I'll have to go soon, though. Is there anything else you need to know?"

I've noticed it a couple of times. Whenever she thinks about something, her eyebrows gently knit together, without her forehead's skin gathering up in a V.

Her eyes light up all of a sudden, and I take it she must've though of something "I'd be good if I knew about Devon's routine. What's it like?"

"What do you mean by that?" I've only been asked about any kind of routine once and that was when Mr Ritchie wanted to find a fault at me. It turned out he was the one to fail!

Annabelle looks left and right, her lips stretching in a smile "I mean, when does he sleep or at what time is he used to eat?"

The fuck if I know?!

"I feed him when he cries," I shrug, and all I get is Annabelle's disapproving look, so I try to soften it up "And then he falls asleep."

She sighs like I'm a hopeless subject to handle and well, maybe I am. But as I said, girls dig bad boys.

Devon announces his waking routine and both Annabelle and I jump to his rescue at the same time. I get disoriented by it, but she doesn't. It's like nothing else exists in this world, only a crying baby.

Before I even get close to Devon's room, Annabelle marches out with the kid in her arms. Boy, it must be so fucking great to be a baby.

What takes me by ultimate surprise is the little devil isn't crying anymore. He gets attention of a beautiful girl, instead of a hot nervous stud and he seems to be doing really good.

To me, there is no crisis until the kid starts screeching like a police siren. And trust me, they sound very alike. I've had a few encounters with the latter one as well as with the former.

Annabelle notices I'm standing there in a cramp, looking at the kid and waiting for him to fart loudly and shit himself since that's usually the drift with him.

"Don't worry," she laughs out of her heart, 'cause apparently I'm amusing when I'm nervous, worried and sick of shit. "I'm here, now."

Are you... talking to the kid or me?

I wish she was talking to me, so I pretend she did and I take another look at my watch. I'm almost running late and I mentally postpone our morning coffee to another day "I really gotta run, now."

Her bright eyes peer at me as if she has forgotten I'm in this apartment too, but she soothes it out with another smile "Oh, yeah, we'll be fine."

On my way out, I decide taking a jacket would be stupid. It's June; I can relax in the warmth of the sun, now.

"Bye, Nathan," Annabelle calls after me, Devon in her arms looking where I'm going.

God... Are those the same kind of eyes...?

"Egeh,"

Devon...

"Egemeh-"

No, no!

"Abebe..."

Please!

"Egeeeeeeh!"

DEVON!

"Oh, honey... Shhh!" Annabelle tries to shut him up, but he's persistent, a tiny little fucking rebel!

She looks at me and I see no panic in her eyes. How the fuck?! "You just go. Kids just hate parting with their parents."

Yeah, but...

"Go, Nathan." I wouldn't trust anyone in the world, but with Annabelle's bubbly smile, I can't help it, and I slowly walk out backwards.

Once I close the door, I can still hear the loud cries of Devon. Why is my heart falling apart? He doesn't cry any differently, right?

Shit - weh!

Food - weh!

Sleep - weh!

Me - weeeeeeh!

I gather all my strength for this upcoming day. It looks like Devon will spend another day at the office with me. God, Justin will put a broom up my ass for this...

When I want to walk in and nicely tell Annabelle this isn't going to work, I hear her talking to him.

"Don't cry, little baby. Don't cry. Daddy will be back, don't worry."

As she speaks to Devon, I can imagine how she holds him, how she caresses him, how she tries to calm him down.

I see her hand travelling up and down Devon's little back. I see his cheek pressed against her shoulderblade underneath her chin. I see her lips kissing his round head. And suddenly the cries stop.

I peer at the door, like Judas in Da Vinci's painting Last Dinner.

Is that sound Devon laughing?

"Whaaat? Where did I put it, huh? Where did I put your nose? Oooh, it's right here! You want it back? Oh, you do! Boop! There, handsome little baby!"

Devon laughs and Annabelle does too. And what I want to do? I want to crumble down on the floor against my own front door and listen to this all day long.

But, I gotta go to work. I gotta deal with another crying baby that handles my schedule and calls me an idiot.

A/N: It's not an ordinary chapter, I know, but Nathan's had so many trials in each chapter, I thought I could give him a kind of rest. He wasn't completely out of trouble, but I believe it was more bearable.

Got a question, though. Why do you think Devon likes Annabelle so much? It's not a trick question and no, Annabelle is not his biological mother, I'd just like to know your opinion on this.

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~ Blackie